Celtic 1, Aberdeen 1-European Hangover

By: Matt | March 11th, 2008

Jan Vennegoor Jammy Goal
The European Hangover. Say those words and it sends shivers down the spine of any Celtic supporter. I for one would rather have a real hangover, rather then go through the tension and drama that the Bhoys faced on Sunday. Here that Bhoys, nausea and throbbing headaches are preferred to draws at Aberdeen! The previous Tuesday was certainly a disappointment to both fans and players alike, but perhaps one positive can be seen is there will not be anymore of these “hangovers”. The proverbial Catalonian bouncer has grabbed us by the scruff of the neck and heaved us from the European bar, not to return for a year. It’s now time to focus on the Cup and the League.

Celtic woke up Sunday after the European party with a throbbing headache. Credit has to be given to Aberdeen, who are well out of the league, are playing for their last bit of hardware. Both sides knowing that lower division Queen of South waited for the winner of the tie and both sides knew Hampden was calling. The Sheep showed offensive prowess that had not been seen in previous matches this year and nearly had a goal in the first half after Chris Maguire put in a nice cross to Lee Miller who put it home, but Celtic were saved by the linesman’s flag. Maguire later put a shot just to the left of the net. The message were clear, Aberdeen weren’t going anywhere. Celtic also had some decent chances early on. The linesman perhaps was the best defender of the day, waving off a Scott McDonald goal in the 20th minute due to a correct offsides call. McDonald then fired a blast that just nicked the post. However, both sides headed into the halftime break scoreless and it stayed that way until the 79th minute, when Jeffery de Visscher put the ball in the back of the net. It certainly seemed that an upset was in the making and Celtic would be crashing out of the cup! In the 91st minute, Celtic won a corner. Times were desperate as Artur Boruc left his own goal to try and poke a header in. The header went into the mixer where it bounced off Celtic and Aberdeen players until it came out to the wing to Georgios Samaras gathered the ball and put in a wonder pass past the Aberdeen defense and right on the foot of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink where he slid it into the goal. Dolly and the rest of the Sheep were in shock, while the large number of Celtic supporters celebrated survival and a replay in Glasgow on next Tuesday. Hangover or not, when we got Aberdeen away in the draw, I knew that it was bound to be a tough road and it certainly seemed that way Sunday. However, I am much more confident, with the replay heading back to Parkhead. Regardless, Celtic officially leads Europe in last minute/lucky wins over the last two years.

Goals can be found here:
http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/QD0TMN1HPYLD0VQ3